STRUGGLE FOR REVOLVER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 124, 27 May 1919, Page 3

STRUGGLE FOR REVOLVER

POLICE AND DISAPPOINTED MAN

Unrequited love seems to have contributed to tho appearance of a young man, apparently a Belgian, in the Dunedin Police Court, charged l with having attempted to commit e'uicide at Port Chalmers by taking poison Accused was alleged to have been on friendly terms with a g:rl in a Northern town, but the pair became estranged. The accused followed the girl to Port Chalmers, but his advances meeting with no success, he tried to communicate with her- by letter. also proved futile, and as a result the Port Chalmers police rece ved a message from the boardinghouse where tho young man' was staying to the effect that he had taken poison. The oolico then informed' Dr. Borrie, who i Cited the man, 'But could find no trace of anything deadly. He, however, testified to the unso l undner & of.the y’oung man’s mind, and constables Parklnll and Soutor were despatched to arrest him. Before entering the room where the young man was lying, -the constables were warned that he had: a revolver. I When Constable Souter stooped to look under a wardrobe tho man leaped from the bed, seized the weapon from its place of concealment, and attempted to fire at the searchers, but, their alertness prevented any damage being done, arid the wcapoit was* secured- It was only after a hard struggle, however, that the nr (in was placed under arrest and '-onveyed to the police station, whence he la*or sent to Dunedin- Tho hiuh was subsequently remanded for a week for medical observation.